Thursday, July 29, 2010

The Wildest Dream - New York City Premier with Conrad Anker


Please join the NY Chapter of the AAC for the premiere of The Wildest Dream, a new National Geographic release featuring board member Conrad Anker. Ticket information can be found below.

Please join the AMERICAN ALPINE CLUB for the NYC premiere of National Geographic Entertainment’s
THE WILDEST DREAM: CONQUEST OF EVEREST
With special guest CONRAD ANKER
Friday, August 6th
7:15 PM
Regal E Walk 13
247 West 42nd Street
New York, NY 10036
TICKETS are $16 for Adults, $12 for Seniors and Children
Tickets can be purchased in advance for the 7:15 PM show at Fandango. Tickets can also be purchased at the Box Office the day of the show. Questions? Please contact Phil Erard, NY Section Chair.
Driven by empire, torn by love, George Mallory disappeared in 1924, a mere 800 feet from his goal of summiting Mount Everest. Now Conrad Anker returns to Everest to recreate Mallory's climb and solve a mystery that has spanned generations. Directed by Emmy® award winning filmmaker Anthony Geffen and featuring the vocal talents of Academy Award® nominees Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes, as well as Hugh Dancy, Alan Rickman and the late Natasha Richardson, "The Wildest Dream: Conquest of Everest" is a breathtaking mountaineering adventure that seeks to provide answers to the enduring mysteries surrounding the death of George Mallory on Mount Everest. Foremost among them: Could Mallory have succeeded in reaching the summit before he and fellow climber Andrew “Sandy” Irvine disappeared in 1924?

Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Vic Benes on the Summit of Shuksan


Here's Vic Benes on the summit of Mt. Shuksan. The 4th time up was a charm!

Friday, July 9, 2010

No Way Down: Booklaunch with writer Graham Bowley

Wednesday, July 21
Reading at 7:00 p.m.
Cost: Free
Happy hour with cash bar, 5:00-7:00p.m. with live spiral performance by Sufi singers from Pakistan.

“A refreshingly unadorned account of the true brutality of climbing K2, where heroes emerge and egos are stripped down, and the only thing achieving immortality is the cold ruthless mountain.”
— Norman Ollestad, author of Crazy for the Storm

New York Times reporter Graham Bowley reads from his harrowing account of the worst mountain climbing disaster on K2, second to Everest in height, but second to no peak in terms of danger. From tragic deaths to unbelievable stories of heroism and survival, No Way Down is an amazing feat of storytelling and adventure writing, and, in the words of explorer and author Sir Ranulph Fiennes, “the closest you can come to being on the summit of K2 on that fateful day.”

With its near-perfect pyramid shape, the 28,251-foot K2—the world's second-highest mountain, some 800 feet shorter than the legendary Everest hundreds of miles to the south—has lured serious climbers for decades. In 2008, near the end of a brief climbing season cut even shorter by bad weather, no fewer than ten international teams—some experienced, others less prepared—crowded the mountain's dangerous slopes with their Sherpas and porters, waiting to ascend.

Finally, on August 1, they were able to set off. But hindered by poor judgment, lack of equipment, and overcrowded conditions, the last group did not summit until nearly 8 p.m., hours later than planned. Then disaster struck when a huge ice chunk from above the Bottleneck, a deadly 300-foot avalanche-prone gulley just below the summit, came loose and destroyed the fixed guide ropes. More than a dozen climbers and porters still above the Bottleneck—many without oxygen and some with no headlamps—faced the near impossibility of descending in the blackness with no guideline and no protection. Over the course of the chaotic night, some would miraculously make it back. Others would not.

Based on in-depth interviews with surviving climbers and many Sherpas, porters, and family and friends of the deceased, No Way Down reveals for the first time the full dimensions of this harrowing drama.

RUBIN MUSEUM OF ART
150 WEST 17TH STREET
NEW YORK CITY 10011
www.rmanyc.org
212.620.5000 x344

David Breashears "Rivers of Ice" Reception at the Asia Society on Tuesday 7/13

New York Section of the American Alpine Club members are invited to attend a special reception of David Breashears 'Rivers of Ice' on Tuesday, June 13th from 6-8PM. Breashears is the noted film maker and mountaineer. Please RSVP to RIVERSofICE@AsiaSociety.org by July 9th for the reception. The event will be held at the Asia Society at 725 Park Avenue in New York.

Rivers of Ice: Vanishing Glaciers of the Greater Himalaya showcases the work of photographer and mountaineer David Breashears, who with Glacier Research Imaging Project (GRIP), has retraced the steps of renowned mountain photographers of the past century to recapture images of these mountains and their glaciers from exactly the same vantage points. Rivers of Ice displays his recent photographs alongside the corresponding historic images, revealing the alarming loss in ice mass that has taken place over the intervening years.